Monday, January 13, 2014

Islamic State of Iraq And The Levant Continues To Overplay Its Hand

As the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) attempts a
comeback it continues to repeat the same mistakes that turned most of the
country against it in the past. Part of its current Soldiers’
Harvest campaign is to gain and hold territory in Iraq. As a result it has
moved into certain towns and cities and begun issuing warnings and orders to
the population about what it will not accept based upon its interpretation of
Islam. Recently it has banned wearing western clothing and listening to music.
Another bad trend is its tendency to attack anyone that does not agree with it.
These extremist ideas and tactics were exactly what the group did from
2004-2006, and which eventually led to groups like the Anbar Awakening and the
Sons of Iraq being formed. These same missteps will likely cost it again, it is
just a matter of time.

The Islamic State has been trying to ban practices it
doesn’t believe in, and impose its rules upon places in Iraq that it is trying
to take over. Mosul in Ninewa province is one of its main urban bases. There ISIS
recently threatened people to stop
listening to music or using DJ equipment claiming that it was unIslamic. Afterward
several stores that sold CDs closed over fears that they might get shot at or
bombed by the Islamists. Previously in the town of Jura in Salahaddin, the
group passed
out flyers telling people that men could not wear western clothes such as
trousers, t-shirts and neckties, and that parents should not buy PlayStations
for their children amongst other things. Afterward, a store that sold western
clothes was blown up. This is a mainstay of ISIS. It has consistently tried to
impose its extremist view of Islam upon areas that fall under its control.
Before in Iraq it banned
women from buying cucumbers claiming that those were “male” vegetables that
only men could buy, demanded that sheep wear clothes because it was improper
for them to walk around “naked,” banned the buying and selling of ice cream because
it did not exist during the time of the Prophet, and bombed stores that sold
make-up. Iraqis were not used to these types of regulations then and are no
more willing to accept them now. These types of ideas are sure to turn people
off of the Islamic State eventually just like they did in the past. It is just
a matter of time.

Another problem with the Islamic State is that it does not
accept anyone that does not agree with it. On January 8, 2014 for example, ISIS
distributed leaflets
in Fallujah threatening to blow up the home of anyone who opposed it. The
group was trying to take advantage of the fighting in Anbar to claim that it
was there to protect the Sunni population from the Shiite led government of
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. Its intimidating flyers however showed that it
was jus as willing to kill Sunnis as Shiites that stood in its way. Again,
these were the same things it did in the past, which turned so many people
against it, and led tribes and other insurgent groups to eventually take up
arms against them.

The Islamic State wants to create a new caliphate from Iraq
to Syria, but its tactics will always undermine that goal. It can’t help but
try to determine people’s everyday lives to create its Islamic society. It also
cannot tolerate any dissent and has consistently fought and killed people it
claims to be protecting or even other insurgent groups that it should be trying
to ally with. It hasn’t learned from its previous setbacks in Iraq, and is
repeating the same mistakes it made in the past by banning things like music
and t-shirts, and threatening to attack people who don’t support it. The real
question is whether the Iraqi government recognizes the Islamic State’s
excesses and can use them to divide the populace from the organization. Baghdad
tends to be blunt and brutal rather than using tact and skill these days when
dealing with the insurgency and the population. It took huge setbacks for the
Americans to recognize these issues in the past, and hopefully the Iraqi
authorities will eventually do the same.

SOURCES

Awara, Omer, “Listening to music
in Mosul is forbidden,” Bas News, 1/7/14

IRAQ HISTORY TIMELINE

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About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com